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| Chico Mendes (Francisco Alves Mendes Filho ) |
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Dec 15, 1944 Porto Rico (rubber plantation) Dec 22, 1988 | Rubber tapper turned environmental activist and made a hero by his murder in 1988 Born on December 15, 1944 in Brazil, Chico Mendes grew up in a family of rubber tappers (also known as seringueiros). Rubber tapping has been practiced by families in the Amazon for generations. It is a process whereby one harmlessly extracts sap from rubber trees,which is then used in such products as car tires, pencil erasers, and even Tupperware. Rubber tapping is one of the many ways in which the resources of the Amazon are exploited without permanently harming the ecosystem. It is a sustainable agricultural system and Chico Mendes followed in his father's footsteps in becoming a seringueiro. For the cattle ranchers and mining interests in Brazil, "sustainable agriculture" impedes profit-making. Read more... | |||||
| Dom Pedro I (Pedro de Alc?ntara ....... de Bragan?a e Bourbon (18 names in full)) |
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Oct 12, 1798 Lisbon Sep 24, 1834 | Portuguese born prince who lost his heart to Brazil, led it to independence and became it?s first emperor. In 1807 the portuguese court was forced to flee Portugal by Napoleon?s army and moved to Rio de Janeiro where Dom Pedro was raised. When his father returned to Portugal in 1821, Dom Pedro was left to rule Brazil. Unwilling to follow the orders of Portuguese parliament, he declared Brazilian independence in 1822. Portugal didn?t have the power to stop him and Brazilian independence came about with virtually no struggle. The loss of the Uruguayan war, his erratic government and his affair with Domitila de Castro made him lose public support. In 1831 he was forced to abdicate to save the throne for his son. He went to Europe to reconquer the Portuguese throne his brother had illegimatily taken from his daughter. During the war of succession he showed real personal courage. In 1834, soon after he had put his daughter on the Portuguese throne, he died in Lisbon. Read more... | |||||
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